Lacuna Coil, Rams Head Live!, Baltimore, Maryland, USA, May 23, 2016

We all have that short list of bands that we always go to see, every chance we get… and for at least the past decade and a half, Lacuna Coil has been on my list. So, despite having just seen them perform two incredible sets on the 70000 Tons of Metal cruise earlier this year (see my review at Afternoiz/Globalnoiz), I jumped at the chance to see them again when they announced their headlining North American tour in support of their upcoming album, “Delirium”. Despite having seen them several times in the past, this would actually be my first time seeing them headline and I was really looking forward to watching them perform a longer set. When their show came to Rams Head Live!, their new album had still not been released, so I was a little disappointed I would not have as much familiarity with the new songs. Despite that, the show was awesome… and the new album, which has since been released, is awesome too… maybe their best to date! You need to go out and buy it… today!

Seventh Seal

Three opening bands performed before Lacuna Coil’s set. First up was a local rock/metal band called Seventh Seal that wasn’t on the tour itself and was only playing that night. Despite this venue being local to me, I hadn’t heard of this band before. They apparently have been around for over a decade, but went on hiatus in 2010. I can’t find much information on the band prior to that time, but they reformed with a new line-up and a new album (“The Ghosts of What We Are”) in 2014. I enjoyed the band musically, but there wasn’t anything about their stage show that I felt really set them apart from the myriad of other bands on the scene.

Painted Wives

The next band on stage was Painted Wives, a Doom metal band from California that have recently released their first full length album. I was also unfamiliar with this band prior to the evening’s set, but I did enjoy their dark brand of metal and felt they put on a lively show. They were also very interactive with the audience.

9Electric

9Electric was the final support band of the evening, and they really cranked up the energy when they hit the stage. In keeping with their name, the band’s stage show had a lot of interesting lighting effects with dark front lighting and a lot of laser and neon backlighting. The lead vocalist came onstage riding a stunt bike which, after a few seconds on riding antics, he lifted over his head to the cheers of the audience. From there, the craziness continued throughout the set. The band itself is a 4 piece electronic hard rock band from California. They recently released their debut album, “The Damaged Ones”. Their show was high energy and the band exuded that true rock star attitude! They were really fun to watch!

Lacuna Coil

Finally, it was time for Lacuna Coil to take the stage… and they took it by storm as they always do. Their new album, Delirium, is a concept album that centers on insanity from several different perspectives, both from the mental health side to the daily insanities we face in our lives. The band came onstage with boundless energy dressed in straightjackets and… overall… looking quite damaged. It was a great stage presentation! Lacuna Coil is always a high energy band and tonight’s show was no exception. There was lots of headbanging and Cristina and Andrea, the band’s vocalists, constantly interacted with the audience. This tour was also the band’s opportunity to introduce their new (and I assume official?) guitarist, Diego Cavallotti. Diego seems like a great fit for the band, and I hope he is around for years to come!

Lacuna Coil

Lacuna Coil played an impressive 17 song set with 14 songs in the main set and three encores. The show began with the high energy “Nothing Stands in Our Way” from 2014’s “Broken Crown Halo”. Additional songs from BCH included: “Die and Rise”, “Victims”, “Cybersleep”, and “Zombies”(encore). I was a bit surprised that very few songs were played from the new album, “Delirium”… in fact there were only two: the title track and “The House of Shame”. I assume this may have been due to the album not being released yet, but I personally would have likely to hear more of the new stuff! Four songs were played from 2012’s “Dark Adrenaline” including: “Kill the Light”, Upsidedown”, “Fire”, and “Trip the Darkness” (encore). The remainder of their original songs included “Spellbound”, “Swamped”, “To the Edge”, “Our Truth” (final encore) and the ever popular “Heaven’s a Lie”. They also played the Depeche Mode cover, “Enjoy the Silence”, which became a huge interactive audience sing-a-long! Despite only having a couple of new songs, I thought it was a fantastic set that was a good representation of their long and successful career!

Overall, it was a fantastic high energy show and the musical production was stunning. Every time I see Lacuna Coil, they just seem to get better and better. The current North American tour has already ended, but touring in support of Delirium has only begun, and tour dates are scheduled all over the world, including Europe, Japan, and Australia! If you can still catch them on this tour, I highly recommend you do so!